Chapter 1401
Jin Yue 2
Chapter 1401 Jin Yue 2
The room tensed instantly. Lady Wei, who had been staring at her with resentment, accidentally knocked over her cup. Her well-maintained face betrayed her undisguised panic: "Lady Lin, you...you dare to disobey me?"
The word "disobedience" is extremely serious and can be punished as a crime.
Tan You sat down in the nearest armchair and gave her a playful look: "I heard that Brother Lin is gone, so I had to come and see. We can't let the blame for murdering the eldest son fall on our Yi Ran Ju."
"To be honest, someone does go out to buy things in my little courtyard, but our Yiran Residence is located in the northernmost corner of the Duke's Mansion, which is quite far from Taoran Residence. How could my maid manage to go to Taoran Residence?"
She was usually a very patient person, but now she didn't want to deal with Wei Shi and the others. After saying these two sentences, Tan You glanced at the few old women and maids standing in the inner courtyard: "You all go out."
The maids and servants wanted to see Madam Wei and ask for her opinion. But they couldn't; like puppets being manipulated, they spontaneously walked out of the inner room.
Wei became agitated: "You've rebelled! Whose servants are you anyway?"
How could she dare to stay under the same roof as Tan You? She tried to pull Chang Mama, who was most loyal to her, but Chang Mama acted as if she didn't see her at all, and left the inner room with a blank look in her eyes.
Wei couldn't hold him back by herself, and in the end, she only ended up in a mess.
Soon, only she, Tan You, and Wei Ruoyu, who was still unconscious, remained in the room. Tan You rested her elbows on the armrest, her left hand fiddled with the prayer beads one by one, and she looked at Wei with the same eyes a big cat eyeing a little mouse.
Thinking about how Wei had tormented the original owner of this body over the past three years, Tan You felt a surge of anger and resentment. Throughout history, women have always been the most adept at making things difficult for other women, and Wei's actions perfectly exemplified this.
The original owner of this body had a truly difficult life. In her maternal family, she was an unwelcome illegitimate daughter. Her father, who considered himself a man of integrity, was merely a low-ranking official of the fifth rank in the Ministry of Rites, so naturally, her family's social standing was not high. Her stepmother held considerable power, and with her eldest son and daughter by her side, while she didn't mistreat her illegitimate daughters, she certainly didn't offer them much care either.
To put it bluntly, the original owner's treatment in the Lin family was only slightly better than that of a maid.
As for how a fifth-rank official and a first-rank Duke of Zhenguo became in-laws, the Wei family was undoubtedly involved in the process. The Wei family also consisted of minor officials; the eldest and second eldest brothers were of average ability and, to this day, only held the rank of fifth-rank official.
However, Wei's husband and Duke Cheng Qian were staunch supporters of the new emperor. Because they chose the right side, the Cheng family, previously unremarkable among military officers, suddenly rose to the rank of Duke Cheng Qian as if by rocket.
Lady Wei wanted to promote her maternal family, but how could Duke Cheng Kun of Zhenguo be willing? If the Cheng family had been a low-ranking military family before, Cheng Kun would have agreed to the marriage alliance.
But now that the Cheng family has become the Duke of Zhenguo, how could they still care about their wife's family?
So Lady Wei compromised, agreeing to let her niece become Cheng Qian's concubine. However, the choice of Cheng Qian's principal wife needed careful consideration. First, her family background couldn't be too high, otherwise, she, as the mother-in-law, and her niece would have a difficult time in front of their daughter-in-law.
Another requirement was that the bride's family had a clean reputation, ideally belonging to the new emperor's faction. Considering all these factors, the original owner, Lin Jinyue, caught Wei's eye. The Lin family, knowing that Cheng Qian already had an illegitimate eldest son before marriage, still married the original owner off to the Cheng family in order to curry favor with them.
In other words, the original owner was a complete tool for a political marriage.
After marrying into the Cheng family, the original owner spent her wedding night with Cheng Qian. Unexpectedly, she conceived on her first try and gave birth to Cheng Sui, the legitimate son. The birth of this son made her a thorn in the side of Madam Wei and Wei Ruoyu. Madam Wei even plotted to torment the original owner so that her niece, Wei Ruoyu, could rise to power. But the original owner was incredibly lucky; she gave birth to a legitimate son on her first try.
The more Tan You reviewed the original owner's memories, the deeper her smile became. She played with her prayer beads, and before Wei could speak, Tan You launched a mental attack.
She used to argue with others, but after experiencing more things, Tan You gradually preferred to take action rather than talk, and basically did whatever was simple and direct.
Soon, Madam Wei was rolling around on the floor in the inner room. She wished she could bang her head on the ground, but how could a pampered noblewoman like her endure such excruciating pain?
Before half a cup of tea could be brewed, Madam Wei fainted, her eyes rolled back in her head.
Tan You was not so compassionate. When Wei fainted from the pain, Tan You got up and dislocated Wei's limbs, forcibly waking her up from the pain and making her experience the same pain again.
After this happened three times, Madam Wei finally gave in. Her hairpins and ornaments were disheveled, making her look like a madwoman, and her skirt was soaked with sweat, clearly indicating that she had lost control of her bladder.
For Madam Wei, today's experience was the most humiliating of her life. But what was even more humiliating was that her daughter-in-law, the woman she had always tormented, sat there calmly in her armchair.
She watched in a cold sweat as she peed herself in fear, witnessing herself screaming and yelling like a madwoman, and the more pain she was in, the happier she laughed.
Tan You was indeed smiling happily; the more miserable Wei Shi looked, the more her pent-up frustration dissipated.
"I forgot, there's also your niece." Having enjoyed Wei's miserable state, Tan You fixed her gaze on Wei Ruoyu, whom she had just kicked unconscious: "I saw you wake up a cup of tea ago. Your aunt loves you so much, yet you didn't say a word in her defense. Tsk tsk, your filial piety is commendable."
“Your aunt has considered everything for you, yet you stand by and watch coldly.”
Tan You squatted down next to Wei Ruoyu and bluntly exposed Wei Ruoyu's feigned unconsciousness. Wei Ruoyu's eyes widened in fury. She had been humiliated like this by Tan You, and her dear niece just stood by and watched?
Tan You was too lazy to listen to the two of them bickering, so she used the same method on Wei Ruoyu. Tan You smiled slightly and said, "A family should be all together."
The more unlucky Wei Ruoyu and the Wei family became, the more the resentment lingering in Tan You's chest loosened. To completely dispel this resentment, she would probably have to kill everyone in the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion and the Cheng family.
Wei Ruoyu was not as resilient as Madam Wei. After enduring the pain, she began to beg for mercy: "Young Madam, Young Madam, I was wrong. I shouldn't have framed you with Lin Ge'er's death. Please forgive me this time!"
Tan You chuckled: "You think I'll forgive you just because you beg for mercy? What do you take me for? You think I have to suffer what I have to suffer?"
She was completely unyielding; no matter how much Wei Ruoyu begged for mercy, she showed no mercy. Soon, Wei Ruoyu followed in the footsteps of the Wei family, and the entire inner room reeked of a foul, fishy smell.
The servants outside, hearing the commotion, fell silent, none daring to utter a sound. They all had one feeling: the fate of the Duke's mansion was about to change.